Headlines

Maybe the presidential campaigns didn’t really matter

We all know that most voters decide who to vote for well before the campaigns begin. …

But about 33 percent of the public identifies as “independent.”

If you ask people what party they identify with, about a third say independent, but when pressed, we learn that few are truly making their decisions candidate by candidate or election by election. The arenas break down as such: people that consider themselves “strong Democrats” and “strong Republicans,” “weak Democrats” and “weak Republicans,” and independents who, when asked, admit that they lean (fairly heavily) toward one party. Voters in these categories are unlikely to vote for the other party. Only about 11 percent of the country really does not favor a political party. …

What is more important is that the word “independent” does not mean moderate. Many people who identify as independents are far more conservative or liberal than their partisan counterparts. The remainder of the 11% of Independents know little about politics and have a hard time understanding political issues. In the end, the exit polls show, those undecided independent voters tend to make up their minds late in the game, but more importantly about half of them vote for Democrats and about half for Republicans. Late deciders don’t tend to favor one candidate over the other, they just make their decisions closer to the election. So much for the importance of the campaign.

No. Romney cribbed from the Boston playbook of John Kerry and got the same results, “Things are bad. I wouldn’t have made the mistakes that got us here. Vote for me.” Hindsight doesn’t win Presidential elections. Neither do extraordinarily bad economies, as AP noted (and FDR could’ve told you). There was a lot to say about Obama’s record other than, “I would’ve done differently,” but Romney thought the economy and basic competence would win the election for him. He was wrong.

In other words, spend your money from now until the elections getting more people into your party’s fold.

Then spend the remaining money on election day getting your party members to the polls.

Forget the commercials, debates, and so on unless they are part of your conversion plan. Not only does it save time, but, it can save you from making a gaffe – if Akin and Mourdock had not spoken publicly, they would both be senators right now.

I am really starting to question if elections aren’t just a version of bread and circuses. The winners are decided by the political elites. What appeared to be massive voting fraud and the republicans sit quietly by and offer there congratulations to the winning dems. The faster this thing collapses the better in my mind.